Change Or Be Left Behind: The Company Of The Future

“Disruption” is the new buzzword. Think of “disruption” as change; “in-your-face” change. Rapid innovations in technology and globalization have resulted in creating disruption in the workplace. Disruption can be positive or negative. It may even connote chaos, in some instances. This article is about the disruption that must take place in today’s corporations if they want to survive. I’m not talking about if they want to thrive; I’m talking about whether they want to exist in 20 years.

Adapt Or Be Left Behind

Millennials are shaping the way business must be conducted in the new digital environment. This generation is social and collaborative. They are a generation that can adapt because they had no choice. They came into the workplace when the Recession devastated their dreams of a job commensurate with their educational training. They had to adapt to being underemployed (in many cases), performing contract work, living at home with Mom and Dad, taking “side hustles” just to make ends meet, pushing off home ownership, and waiting to start a family. This disruption became the new norm, and they adapted well.

To further support the disruption in the corporate world, Deloitte just released its fifth annual report called, 2017 Global Human Capital Trends: Rewriting The Rules For The Digital Age. They found that the typical structure of hierarchical management is doomed with this new generation. Millennials view the team structure as the new structure. The study indicated that “As networks and ecosystems replace organizational hierarchies, the traditional question ‘For Whom do you work?’ has been replaced by ‘With whom do you work?’”

The study found that, “… 88% …of respondents believe that building the organization of the future is an important [issue] … [yet] Only 11% of the survey respondents believe they understand how to build the organization of the future.” Many corporations are not agile enough to be able to adapt to this new way of doing business.

In many instances, corporations benefited from this new disruption. Instead of hiring full-time employees, with full-time benefits, companies could hire consultants with specific talents to fill special roles, and save money by not having to offer benefits. It worked. Millennials were employed and honored for their talents and not bound to one corporation and to one boss. They are used to this flexibility and now expect it. They are not bound by the 9-to-5 workplace. The new digital world has transformed how we collect and disseminate all of our information, and the workplace is adapting to that change. It has allowed people to work remotely, while still being able to succeed.

Millennials jumped on this new bandwagon. They can work anywhere, anytime. But, they are still social beings who are connected with their peers; their “team.” “Team” is the operative word. That doesn’t suggest a hierarchical structure, but rather a peer-to-peer structure. They have that with their friends and they expect that in every other part of their lives as well. As an Executive in Residence at Columbia Graduate School of Business, I see students work in teams; real teams, without a designated leader. They work collaboratively on projects and are accountable to each other. I too, had work teams in school to create and complete projects, but there was always a clear leader. I grew up, as most Baby Boomers did, and was comfortable with a hierarchical structure at home, in school, and in the workplace.

What Does This Mean For Corporations?

As Daniel Newman, Forbes contributor, wrote, “Digital transformation reshapes every aspect of business. As digital technology continues to evolve, I believe that successful digital transformation will require careful collaboration, thoughtful planning, and the inclusion of every department.” Newman goes on to say, “During recent years, we’ve seen shifts in how traditional leadership roles operate, as silos break down and the scopes of various roles widen and change.”

Business, As Usual, Will Mean Your Company May Disappear

We think of the great companies lasting forever. Well, Professor Richard Foster from Yale University debunked that notion. In a BBC report, he indicated that “The average lifespan of a company listed in the S&P 500 Index …has decreased by more than 50 years in the last century, from 67 years in the 1920’s to just 15 years today.” The professor indicates that adaptability is the key to longevity. He notes that the world’s oldest company, Stora Enso, a Finnish paper and pulp company that started out as a copper mining company in 1288 is morphing into a company looking to expand into bio-energy and green construction materials today.

The New Corporate Reality

Speaking with Erica Volini, US Human Capital Leader at Deloitte Consulting about the recent Deloitte 2017 Global Human Capital Trends report, I expressed my concern that companies may want change, but have no idea how to make that change. Volini said, “Culture needs to come from the top and it needs to be embedded into the way in which things get done in an organization. This ‘engagement’ has multiple aspects and comes from everything from the way in which the workplace is physically structured to how managers engage with their teams to how the organization impacts the broader community. Collecting more real-time data around engagement and then using that data as a way to drive continuous improvement in the culture is a great way to ‘walk the talk’ and demonstrate to your employees that you see your culture as more than a mission statement posted on the wall.”

This process is not easy and change is disruptive in itself. But, as George Bernard Shaw put so eloquently, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

I’m a New York Times #1 Best Selling Author of 27 books all empowering families (and their kids) to take charge of their financial lives. I make money lessons fun, interesting and a family affair. I also speak the new language of kids: mobile video gaming. I’ve released 3 ...